Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I can advise the Deputy that last week I secured government approval to introduce new policies and legislative changes to strengthen Ireland’s migration and asylum system to ensure it is rules-based, efficient and more aligned with EU Member States. These reforms also include a thorough review of the family reunification policy, developed with Minister of State Colm Brophy.

The Family Reunification Policy sets out how Irish citizens and most non-EEA Irish residents may apply to bring family members to live with them in Ireland.

This Policy sets the criteria, which has remained largely unchanged since 2013, for those wishing to bring family members from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to join them in Ireland. The majority of the changes in the review of that Policy took effect for new applicants from 26 November. These include :

Family reunification will be limited to immediate family members only, defined as spouses/partners, minor children, dependent parents and dependent adult children with a serious medical condition.

The following will apply -

• People sponsoring applications will need to continue to demonstrate a clear financial capacity to provide for their family members if they are to be granted a permission to come to Ireland.
• Tightening the existing Policy on how and when the Minister may waive certain criteria in exceptional circumstances.
• Giving permission to work for 16-18 year old dependents of General and Critical Skills Employment Permit Holders.
• A reduced effective waiting period before an application can be made by General Employment Permit holders, by reducing financial records requirement from two years to one year to align with the one year waiting period before an application can be made

New conditions will also be introduced as soon as operational considerations allow, to require certain sponsors to have suitable private accommodation for their family before that family arrives in Ireland, that applications must be made while their family members are outside the State and for an application fee to be introduced.

I also intend to make a number of changes to the rules on the granting of citizenship.

The former policy of granting citizenship to all beneficiaries of international protection after a time period of three years will no longer apply. In general, the time a successful international protection applicant must wait to apply for citizenship will be extended from 3 to 5 years in line with most other citizenship applications. They will also be required to pay citizenship application fees.

I also propose to introduce additional eligibility criteria so that people seeking citizenship should be generally self-sufficient and should not owe a debt to the State for a defined period leading up to an application. Officials in my Department will work with the Attorney General’s Office and Department of Social Protection to develop this proposal.

It is also proposed to exclude residency accrual for naturalisation purposes for those who are residing in Ireland on temporary permissions including Temporary Protection under the Temporary Protection Directive. This is simply intended as a clarification of existing policy which ensures that temporary permissions do not accrue reckonable residence in Ireland.

Currently, there is an application fee of €175 and a certification fee of €950 following a positive decision. The State has not increased the fees for naturalisation applications since 2011. These fees will be reviewed in the context of changes undertaken by other EU countries.

I will also clearly define what constitutes “good character”, which often relates to criminal behaviour. This will clarify the application process for applicants, and the decision-making process for officials.

Changes to International Protection Act 2015 will allow for additional powers to revoke refugee status where a person is found to be a danger to the security of the State or has been convicted of a serious crime. Residents of international protection accommodation will be required to make a financial contribution to their accommodation according to income levels and Family Reunification for those granted International Protection status will take the self-sufficiency of the sponsor into account.

These new policies and legislative changes are designed to strengthen the system integrity, enhance clarity for applicants, and ensure that migration pathways remain fair, transparent and sustainable.